OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Cape Town | Monday 7.45pm. FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel on Monday announced a revision of South Africa’s estimated budget deficit for the 1998/1999 financial year to 3,9% of gross domestic product, up from the 3,5% deficit projected in March. Manuel said, however, that the government remains committed to reducing the budget […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Monday 7.00pm. RUTH First had turned away from active involvement in the African National Congress to concentrate on her academic career at a university in Maputo in Mozambique some time before she was killed by a letter bomb sent by the apartheid security forces, Transport Minister Mac Maharaj said on Monday. […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 5.30pm. LOCAL markets had a strong day across the board on Monday, bouncing off stronger international markets that found touch with news of US support for an International Monetary Fund relief package. Dealers said the announcement that the United States Senate has passed an IMF plan to assist ailing economies […]

LEONARD NDZHUKULA, Nelspruit | Monday 10.00am. SIX Mpumalanga medical students have returned from studying in Cuba where, thay claim, they were held in a “concentration camp from hell” where they were discriminated against in a manner similar to aprtheid. According to the students, Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma lied to them about their contracts and publicly […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Windhoek | Monday 6.50pm. THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission has blamed former South African army chief Lieutenant General Constand Viljoen, former air force chief RH Rodgers, and their political masters — the late prime minister John Vorster and defence minister PW Botha — for the Cassinga massacre of 1978, in which over 600 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Dhaka | Monday 1.00am. SOUTH Africa’s cricket side continued its good run of form in Dhaka in Sunday, beating the West Indies to claim the Wills International Cup. South Africa finished at 248 for six in 47 overs, led by captain Hansie Cronje’s 61 and his astute leadership. The South Africans […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Monday 9.30pm. LESOTHO’S Prime Minister has been accused by opposition parties of victimising civil servants after claims that over 30 alleged mutineers would be court-martialled instead of receiving a general amnesty as demanded. The 11 opposition parties, in a letter to South African Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi, said that […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Monday 7.00pm. WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of President Nelson Mandela, was on Monday nominated as a parliamentary candidate for the African National Congress. This emerged on Monday when the ANC released a list of Gauteng nominees for the 1999 general election. Madikizela-Mandela — who last week hit the headlines […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 1.00am. SOUTH African IBF junior featherweight champion Vuyani “The Beast” Bungu retained his title after beating American challenger Danny Romero on points in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday. Bungu’s win sees him matching Brian Mitchell’s record of 12 successful world title defences. There judges, however, did not see the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Lubumbashi and Harare | Monday 10.30pm. ZIMBABWE and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday signed a technical, scientific and co-operation agreement that is expected to pave the way for economic and trade relations between the two countries. Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, Stan Mudenge, and his Congolese counterpart, Victor Mpoyo, signed the accord at […]